Lost and Found
by Mill-Milloz
Summary: NickxEllis As they try to escape through hard rain Coach and Rochelle are lost, leaving Nick and Ellis alone together. In all the Chaos, Nick begins to understand his true feelings for the other man and has a chance to act upon them. Some things are lost, and others are found.


**A/N: Hey, so this is my first story for Left 4 Dead, and actually my first non-Ocarina of Time story, It's rather dark at the beginning and towards the end has some light NickxEllis, so if you're not into that kinda thing just don't read it :) I made this story as a one-shot but am thinking about potentially adding a second chapter.. I donno.. let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 :(**

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The four survivors ran through the small community as fast as they could, knowing that in this rain they could not go on much longer. Their clothes were soaked; slowing them down and proving a major issue when confronting the undead. Instead of gunning down every zombie they saw Coach had advised they simply run. Not something that Nick was used to hearing from the larger man; none the less he had agreed and now they found themselves dodging around the odd zombie here and there.

"Haha" Ellis laughed, earning Nick's immediate attention. "This isn't so bad! It's just like this one time when my frie-" Ellis stopped mid sentence to cough roughly into his hand a few times. He'd been coughing a lot lately and Nick began to wonder if the younger man was getting sick. "Sorry 'bout that. It's just like the time my friend Keith-"

"Ellis!" Rochelle cut in, causing Ellis to stop and look over to her. "Now's not the time! Save your.. Breath.." Everyone was getting winded, Nick knew they would not be able to keep up this pace much longer. He turned his gaze forward trying to make out objects through the increasingly heavy rain. the puddles were rising, almost to his ankles now which cased a great deal of resistance as the four ran.

Coach's voice fought with the rain and wind, Nick could barely hear him even though he was only a few meters away. "It shouldn't be too much further now! that boarded up house should only be a few blocks away" As he finished the four turned a corner into a familiar open thought it looked creepy last time, now there were zombies crowding the entire area.

"Aww, hell no..." Coach stepped up in font of the others and pumped his shot-gun, aiming it at the closest zombie's head. "Looks like we'll have to fight this time, there's no way we can pass through all of them. We gotta end this fast though before that crazy rain comes back!" With a bang the engagement begun, the zombie's limbs and guts being sprayer all over the once happy play area. The four made their way towards the play ground itself when suddenly Nick got a sinking feeling, and suddenly the 'crazy rain' that Coach had spoke of was upon them.

Nick couldn't see a thing other than the odd silhouette which he would confirm as a zombie before shooting at the head. After taking out a good amount of the walkers he heard the dis-heartening 'click' come from his rifle and he knew that he was out of ammo. Throwing the rifle to the ground he pulled the two pistols from out of his belt and continued to fight. In this rain it was pointless to try and move, even if they managed to head in the right direction the chances were that they would be split up. "Guys! come to my voice!" Nice screamed through the rain. If one of them were to be grabbed now by a jockey or a smoker it would be impossible to-

"Shit!" Coach's voice cut through the rain and Nick's heart sank. Where had it come from? What had happened to his companion!? Coach's voice sliced through the downpour again, and Nick spun around to face it's origin. "It's- It's got- me.." The larger man was being dragged back the was they'd come from, towards the mill. Instantly Nick began to run, along with Ellis whom appeared at his side through the rain.

They had proceeded only a few meters before they heard Coach's last words. "Leave! Get to- Safety!" Nick stopped dead in his tracks, reaching out to stop Ellis as well who gave him a dirty look.

The younger man glared at Nick, yelling "What the hell Nick! We can't leave him to die!" But then he heard it too. the pounding of not one tank, but multiple tanks from the direction Coach had been pulled followed by the shots of a shot-gun. Nick almost smiled knowing that Coach was alive, but stopped himself when he remembered that the larger man only had a few clips left for his gun.

Nick grabbed Ellis's shoulder and spun him back the way they were originally going, yelling through a choked up voice "We have to find Rochelle and run! Coach is trying to save us!" Ellis' eyes widened at the statement, but he nodded before being practically dragged forward by the taller man. Nick understood that Ellis wanted to save Coach, of the four of them Ellis had always been the first to try and save the others but now wasn't the time for heroics.

Looking back for only a second Nick saw tears welling up in Ellis' eyes, and forced himself back forward. For some reason he wanted to pull the other man close, to hold him and make him stop crying. Shaking his head Nick focused on the mater at hand, noting that the shots from behind them had ceased. "Rochelle! We have to get the hell out of here!" He shouted through the hard rain.

No more than half a minute later Rochelle appeared at his side opposite Ellis, with only a pistol and large knife in hand. Nick figured she'd run out of ammo as well and frowned. just how much further away was the damn safe house? The pounding was becoming louder, the tanks were obviously approaching quickly. Nick knew that the second the rain let up he would be able to see them. How many, 3? 5? He had no idea.

Rochelle didn't seem right as they proceeded forward, Nick took quick glances over at her to try and figure out what was wrong but he couldn't note anything in particular. "Hey! are you okay?" He yelled towards her, the rain had gotten even heavier and he doubted that Ellis would be able to hear. He was loosing his breath, the exhaustion was beginning to take over his body.

Rochelle didn't respond for a second, she just kept running but soon she looked over to Nick and simply shook her head as if to say no. Nick was about to question her when she leaned forward and coughed hard, leaning back to reveal blood all over her hands. Suddenly it all made sense, and Nick mentally kicked himself for not noticing earlier. There were cuts all over the woman's neck, as well as more all down her side through ripped clothes. in the heavy rain he hadn't noticed, but she must have lost a lot of blood.

"They can.. smell me.." She barely spoke, more blood spraying onto the ground below. Nick instantly stopped, causing the other two to stop as well. there was no way Rochelle could keep running like this.

"Let me carry you!" Nick screamed, and Ellis stepped around him to see the cuts on Rochelle's body for himself. The younger man turned away and bent over, Nick assumed that if he hadn't he would have been sick. To him seeing the undead cut up and a friend cut up must be two completely different things.

Rochelle shook her head again, attempting to speak but Nick had to lean closer to hear her. "I'l go the other way.. Distract them by scent.. You.. Save Ellis.. I know what he means to you..." Nick was about to argue when Rochelle held a finger to his lips. "Don't... You look at him.. The same way I look at you.." With that Nick froze, had his emotions become so obvious to the others? Did Coach as well.. Before he knew it Rochelle was gone, having slipped into the rain while he was in thought.

"No!" He screamed, staring out in the direction she would have ran. "Damnit come back!" This alerted Ellis that something was wrong, the younger man moved beside Nick and put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at Nick terrified, his eyes string straight into the older man's. "Nick.. Where did she go?.." And it was in that moment that Nick realized Rochelle was right, he wouldn't have been able to save them both. With the Tanks following them like that they would have been caught and killed sooner or later even if they made it to the safe house.

And so he lied, whispering "She was grabbed by a smoker.. but we have to go, she was gone anyways." Ellis wouldn't be able to handle the truth, that their friend had thrown herself away as bait. He struggled towards the direction that Rochelle had been 'taken' but Nick grabbed him around the waist and kept running towards where he had remembered the safe house to be. The rain was beginning to let up, which while helpful also meant that those freaks would have no trouble finding the two.

Ellis had disappeared into himself, simply a empty body running behind Nick. He was obviously drastically effected by the deaths of his friends and Nick understood that but they didn't have time to waste! Nick grabbed the other man's hand, which seemed to send a little jolt through his body and continued to run at full speed. The rain continued to let up, houses were becoming visible along with the shadows of zombies all around them. From the looks of it only walkers, but a hunter or jockey could be lurking around any object or corner.

Ellis was becoming heavier and heavier, but not for a second of leaving him behind cross Nick's mind. He cared for Ellis,in a different way than the others. Although the more childish man could get on Nick's nerves from time to time he had to admit that every time Ellis smiled he would smile, every time Ellis told one of his stupid jokes Nick would shoot him down, but laugh on the inside.

"Ellis, it's just a little longer! hold on!" The rain was now light enough that Nick could see semi-clearly, he recognized the houses they ran past and knew it was just a few more blocks to the safe house. He couldn't help but smile, and looked back to try and share his smile with the one he was pulling. But his smile instantly disappeared, and his heart sank in his chest.

Ellis looked pale, his hands felt like ice; his clothes were soaked in blood. Nick hadn't noticed while the heavy rain was washing the blood away but now it was obvious as day. Without taking another step Ellis collapsed, and if not for Nick catching the younger man he would have fell into the puddles below them. Nick tilted Ellis' face up to look for any signs of consciousness but couldn't find any, his life was fading. Without another thought Nick dropped his pistols and lifted Ellis into his arms, -he didn't weigh as much as Nick had expected- and began running.

The rain didn't stop pouring as a Nick ran for his life through the seemingly endless row of houses. Coach had said that this was a nice community, but now the only things residing here were the undead. Barely being able to see where he was going with the rain hitting his face the frantic man pushed past anything that dared to block his path. Nick didn't care about killing the undead anymore, he didn't care about the little games he and his friends had played of who could kill the most or who could take out more with a blunt object. All he cared about was the other man that lay wounded in his arms.

He had lost Coach and Rochelle to the hordes but he would not loose Ellis. Just a little further, around a few more corners and he should find the safe-house with the medical equipment needed to save his friend. Once Ellis was back on his feet he could relax, go back to bugging each other and poking fun at the smaller man.

A deathly choking sound came from below and Nick looked down only for a second to see Ellis cough up some blood onto the man's white suit sleeve. At any other time this would cause him to yell at the other but not now. Another sound came from ahead and Nick looked up a second too late as he crashed into a large zombie and fell back to the ground; almost loosing his grip of Ellis. Upon a quick analysis this zombie seemed to be just another brainless walker, usually harmless but it had the upper hand as it was not knocked over from bing hit by Nick and now loomed above the two men.

Nick's eyes widened, he didn't have a weapon to defend himself. He'd left it behind to lighten the load of carrying Ellis. "No! I can't die here!" He yelled and suddenly remembered Ellis's slightly odd habit of tucking a loaded pistol into the front of his pants. the younger man always said it never hurt to have an extra weapon close by. "Please be there" Nick whispered as he pulled up Ellis's shirt revealing a shiny pistol pointing straight at his crotch, along with some nasty gashes that looked like claw marks. No ordinary zombie would be able todo that.. Nick's eyes widened once again in terror as he noted that the safety was off, but quickly grabbed the gun and pointed it at the large zombie's head.

"Not today you undead freak" Shouted Nick as he sent a bullet through the Zombie's head. Luckily there was still a bullet in the gun but he didn't know how many were left and he didn't have time to count. Nick flipped the safety and tucked the pistol into his own pants before lifting Ellis into his arms once more and getting up to his feet."Safe house.. I need the safe house" he muttered while beginning to run.

In the zombie apocalypse Nick had found that he could run for quite long spans of time, however that did not take into account carrying another man. Nick's legs began to give in first, followed by his chest and arms. "Just.. just a little longer.." he panted, dodging past another undead woman under a streetlight.

It was getting darker out, soon he would have to worry about the night on top of carrying Ellis. For some reason the zombies would become more active at night and more special zombies would attack the survivors. Almost every safe house had written somewhere on it's walls 'Stay inside once the sun goes down.'

The rain began pouring harder, soaking into Nick's bones and for a minute he began to think he wouldn't be able to make it. Looking down at his arms he saw that Ellis's blood was spreading more throughout his shirt. Holding back the painful tears that welled up in his eyes Nick finally spotted it after turning a corner. There, at the end of the block was the small boarded up house with the safe house door.

All other thoughts were thrown from his mind, he was almost there! When the four had passed through the house on their way to get the gas they had left two med kits for the way back just in case, so Nick knew that they were there. Zombies all around had taken notice of the two men and began shambling closer, Nick even heard the scream of a hunter from behind but he ignored it, pulling open the large red door with one hand and slamming it closed behind him, placing all the locks and bars in position to keep the undead outside.

Once inside Nick instantly headed for the bedroom, laying Ellis down softly on the bed before spinning around and running back to get both med-kits. He could hear the zombies scratching at the walls outside, but as long as this safe house was like all the others they should be safe. they should at least stay the night, and until Ellis was better. Nick re-entered the bedroom, Ellis seemed to have regained consciousness but barely as he writhed in pain. the man's favorite hat had fallen to the side of the bed and he didn't even make a movement to retrieve it, this was bad.

Sitting on the bed beside Ellis Nick tried to make eye contact before speaking "Ellis, I need to take off your clothes." Ellis, although barely conscious, still looked up and seemed to look scared, he knew how bad it was. "What the hell Ellis, what happened to you?.." Nick asked as he reached for the the base of the yellow shirt and begun to wiggle it up revealing those deep gashes. Nick had seen wounds like this, but only from "a witch? Ellis did a witch do this?!" Of all the zombies the witches were some of the most deadly. even all four of the survivors would struggle to kill one.

Ellis nodded softly, a slight grin playing on his lips. "Yeah.. I got her though, shot-gun straight to the face" Nick couldn't help but chuckle a little, that was just like Ellis. even though he was quite possibly laying in his death bed, still trying to be strong. Nick moved Ellis' arms to pull the shirt up over his head, revealing more small scratches and bruises all ofer his body. most of them did not seem recently made, but still Nick had never seen them before. Ellis had been hiding them? Probably didn't want to worry the others.

Shaking the thought from his head Nick reached for the med-kit, opening it and pulling out some disinfectant, which Ellis frowned at. "That bad eh?" He asked, and Nick laughed a little.

"Yeah, haha it's pretty bad." Nick almost smiled as he noticed color returning to the other's skin. After disinfecting the wounds Nick began to wrap them with sterile bandages, being careful not to press too hard. The more he took care of Ellis the more he began to enjoy it, having his hand's on the smaller man's skin and feeling his muscles. Ellis didn't always look it, but he had quite the body.

"Hey, uhm.." Ellis' voice brought Nick back to reality as he looked up at him. "You wanna stop starin?.. it's embarrassing.." Ellis looked down slowly, avoiding Nick's eye contact but Nick could see the slight blush playing on his cheeks. Could it be that Ellis liked him back?..

Nick continued to wrap the bandages, moving to Ellis' arms and shoulders. finally his skin was beginning to warm up, but still it felt almost ice cold. "Done, you should be okay now. But you need to rest." Nick smiled, earning a smile back but once again Ellis avoided eye contact. "I'll leave you in here, but make sure you keep warm alright? I think you may have mild hypothermia."

Nick took one last look at Ellis' half naked body, even bandaged up he had to admit the younger man was quite attractive; before turning and reaching for the door handle. before he could open it however he was cut off by Ellis' voice. "Hey, get my hat for me would ya?" Nick smiled softly, there was the Ellis he knew and loved.

Nick walked back to the side of the bed and bent down to grab Ellis' treasured hat, the extended his arm out to return it. Ellis made a movement to retrieve the hat, but instead reached for Nick's wrist and pulled him down to sit on the bed with a little grunt. Nick glared down at Ellis whom simply smiled and said "Y'know, I've heard that the best way to prevent hypothermia is another person's body heat.." This time instead of avoiding eye contact Ellis started straight up at Nick with a little grin.

Nick laughed softly, leaning down over the other man. "You know, I'm not that much fun to sleep with. I roll in my sleep" he spoke softly, moving a hand to Ellis' side above the bandages area onto his ribs. Ellis still felt cold under his fingers.

At this Ellis grinned only further and whispered "y'know Nick, I've noticed you starin' at me sometimes. I cant help but wonder what exactly you want from me?" Nick felt Elis' free hand tug at the bottom of his shirt, asking to take it off as well. Nick however didn't answer the young man right away. Instead he slowly leant forward, until he could feel Ellis' warm breath on his lips and waited a few second. Ellis seemed to have lost all his confidence, melting beneath the larger man.

"Well that's just the thing Ellis. I don't want anything necessarily from you." He slowly inched closer, until he could feel Ellis' lips brushing against his own and whispered against them "I just want you."

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** A/N: So... yeah. Like I said, some NickxEllis at the end there but I hope you like it! as I said at the top I'm contemplating writing a second chapter, depending on how you guys like the first? it's my first time writing a boyxboy story so I don't know how I did.. **

**Please leave a review if you don't mind :)**

**-Mill-Milloz out!**


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